


All Fun and Games

by trainthief



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Carnival AU, Cause we were all dying for that, Hermann is completely unable to function, M/M, Newt is the worst flirt imaginable, No creepy carnie stuff or anything this is pure unadulterated fluff, WAYY too much fluff in fact, Warning for excessive fluff and awkward gay scientists, feats of manly masculine strength are attempted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-11
Updated: 2015-12-11
Packaged: 2018-05-06 03:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5401259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trainthief/pseuds/trainthief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A very short and very fluffy AU wherein Newt is the nice professor who volunteers to help with the astrophysics club's fundraising carnival and Hermann is the unapproachable professor who is embarrassingly terrible at carnival games.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for clicking on this. I own nothing, not even my soul, which is currently rotting in Burn Gorman hell.

A light dusting of dirt floated among the crowd where Hermann Gottlieb sat considering his attributes. He was a man of many gifts, that much was easily established. Some were mental, others - to be put delicately - were more physical. But of all the things he had going for him, he decided without much fanfare that wanton sympathy was not one of them. This was a hypothesis he considered proven by the fact that his version of assisting the astrophysics team with their yearly fundraiser carnival was to make a brief appearance without any offer to help. He supposed he ought to feel mildly guilty about that, considering the fact that he was one of the three professors on campus that technically ran the thing, but he found he had difficulty mustering up the effort to care when the summer semester sun was beating down on the loose floating dirt that was threatening to cake his already gritted teeth. He had not foregone the sweater vest in deference to the heat. God forbid. But the crowds that swarmed around him as he sat awkwardly on a sticky bench and observed the admitted success of the event threatened to test his resolve. 

The crowds, however, were hardly the first thing to do so. Not when that absolute ASS stood so near, existing and moving and breathing without the slightest idea that the very concept of his doing so was putting a strain on Hermann and his very reluctantly attached heart. 

Hermann had maintained a strict "no dating coworkers" rule since his very first job as a document runner for a law firm that worked closely with his father. The policy had been admittedly easy to follow at the time, mostly due to disinterest, 40 year age gaps, and pedophilia laws. But Hermann had grown and the policy had stayed, supported by his inability to socialise properly in any way shape or form. His obtusely logical brain told him that he oughtn't break the streak now, and definitely not for a short and wild little man with lizard tattoos. They were both tenured, the youngest of their fellows at the university - an accomplishment that meant neither of them was going anywhere. So his having any sort of long distance affection was absolutely absurd, especially considering the fact that they had yet to hold a conversation. 

Or at least a good one. 

There had been that time in the elevator. He couldn't remember exactly WHAT it was that started it, but he knew at least that by the time the doors opened for the fifth floor they were BOTH yelling. Unlike every assertion his late father had made to the contrary, it would seem he wasn't ALWAYS the cause of arguments and tension. That one had seemed more than mutual. 

All this considered, the interest Hermann unwittingly maintained in the man dancing ridiculously next to a game booth 20 feet from him was completely irrational. And the fact that he'd been staring at him through the passing crowds for the last five minutes straight was absolutely absurd. 

He shook himself awake internally and realised they had made eye contact. Oh god. How long had they been doing that? And the man was still dancing, trying to tempt openly awkward freshmen to try their hand at the strongman game he seemed to have volunteered to run. Apparently the man had a better handle on the whole "sympathy" concept than did Hermann. Despite all this distraction, however, his smug but soft gaze didn't seem to falter. 

Still staring. Oh no, the man winked. Oh GOD. Why one earth would this happen. What's a proper response. A scowl? Hopefully, as it seemed there was already one plastered on his face. 

In a stroke of good luck, he was spared further embarrassment thanks to the eye contact being broken by the other participant before he was forced to do it himself. What was the man's name? Liz, short for Lizard? Hermann seriously doubted it, although the ridiculousness of his tattoos seemed to beg to differ. And oh god, apparently he had spaced out again. The absolute munchkin of a human being seemed to have broken off a conversation with some overenthusiastic coeds with the express purpose of walking as slowly as humanly possible in a direction that seemed to be suspiciously close to Hermann's own. 

Shitshitshit. 

"-and because the simple laws of Newtonian physics allow for your success, dude, you literally CANT say no to this"

The ridiculous man seemed to have gone off on a tangent right in Hermann's general direction, holding a golden token out between forefinger and thumb with a grin that was absolutely obscene to be sporting on school property. 

Oh no, had he been talking to him? But why? How to respond? More scowling? Hopefully, it seemed his nerves had decided for him on that account. 

With a bemused snort, the man grabbed one of Hermann's hands from its sweaty death grip on his cane, unfolded the fingers with no small amount of effort, and placed the token on his palm, before turning heel and walking back to the stand he was meant to be manning, babbling the whole way as if he expected Hermann to follow him around and hang on to his every word without being asked. 

It was an affront, he thought, as he worked to keep up. 

"See, the contraption is relatively simple dude. No tricks of the trade up my sleeves, tatted or otherwise. Just a classic exertion of force and equal reaction in the form of kinetic energy. Whack the spring with a hammer hard enough, the bell goes off, you win a prize! And you've practically already won since I've oh-so-generously given you a token for the game and by my calculations you ought to be more than capable of that sort of thing. Not only that, but once you have you'll never be able to repay me for the amazing experience. You'll spend the rest of your life trying. These are just the facts. So don't shit on my belief in you man, cause I've already got my eyes on the perfect plushy toy for you to take home". The man reached out and stroked the stomach of a particularly hideous stuffed cow. 

Hermann, for his part, was affronted. He had been dragged from his reverie to play a children's game that - by his very reliable calculations - he ought to be able to beat with little or no effort. Not only that, but the man just wouldn't stop TALKING. Even after the explanation of the rules was over and done with, it definitely didn't mean he was. He meant to say as much. Instead he just barely managed to snap out "What's your name". 

It was hardly a question. If anything it had somehow come out a command. A much firmer one than he would've expected given how out of control of the entire situation he currently felt. 

"Dr Newton Geiszler, but you can call me Newt, or for drinks, any time" the man said with an exaggerated wink. 

Hermann frowned. He could call him... Fordrinks? What kind of nickname was that? He was about to ask as much when he felt his ears go warm, clearly catching up with the program before his dazed brain. How was he supposed to respond to that? Say yes? Say no? Abandon the no coworkers rule completely and ask the ridiculous man to go steady with him? Was that still a thing people said? Going steady? Is that what he wanted? Was his crush that bad already? Should he go for it? Maybe he'd go for it...

The entire decision-making process Hermann was attempting to stumble through took an inordinately long 15 seconds, so long that by the time he snapped back to reality with a half-formed idea for a flirtatious reply that he would undoubtedly later be glad he didn't have the chance to embarrass himself with, Newton had already moved on, handing him the rubber mallet for the game and rambling about.....what subject had he reached now? Atomic theory? How on EARTH had he talked his way to that point. Hermann wished he hadn't missed a second of it, and then wished he hadn't had such a ridiculously sentimental thought because it was surely messing with his facial expression. Dr. Geiszler's face seemed to support that notion, staring at him appraisingly and... No longer talking. Oh, wait, had he asked a question?

"Alright, I'll repeat myself: Well Gottlieb, are you gonna hit it or what? -" 

MIND OUT OF THE PROVERBIAL GUTTER, GOTTLIEB. GOOD GOD MAN. 

"- By the way, do you mind if I call you Hermann dude? I've attended, like, SO many of your public lectures and have a whole shelf in my office dedicated to your ridiculously descriptive dissertations, so it almost feels weird not to. But don't worry. The REALLY great nicknames don't come until after the first date..."

Hermann was.... Malfunctioning. 

"....Nothing dude? Just gonna stand there? Well it's not gonna win you the game, now hit the spring with the damn mallet for gods sake, so I can be suitably impressed with your sexy display of masculinity and we can move on from there."

Hermann really had no choice at this point but to muster up some focus, swing the mallet, and hope for the best. 

Misguidedly, apparently, because:

"HOLY SHIT MAN. HOOOOLY SHIT. That wasn't even HALF WAY. That's fuckin hilarious! I can't believe this!" 

Newton was doubled over laughing, clutching at Hermann's forearm for support, looking for all the world like he was about to wet himself. It would've have mattered even if he had, he'd still end up the less humiliated one in the situation. 

"GOD dude, you're skinny but I thought for sure you'd have it! I miscalculated WILDLY with that one. Oh man, if I'd made that kind of error in the lab I'd be out a job! SHIT that's rich Herms" 

Hermann - meanwhile - was absolutely desperate to sink into the ground and die. How had this happened. This was the sort of thing that wouldn't be out of place in a nightmare. He was absolutely mortified, so much so that the informal nickname that had just been applied to him barely registered in his mind. He had no memory of being this embarrassed in his entire life, and he had spent all of grade school in a painfully squeaky knee brace. He wanted to scream and make excuses and - oddly enough - apologise for wasting Newton's time. As if the man had anything better to do at the moment. 

Instead what came out was: "A rigged machine is not fair play for a school-focused event. I'm afraid I'll have to write a report for this."

He moved to storm off haughtily in an attempt to regain some small portion of his lost pride, but Geiszler still had a grip on his forearm and pulled him even closer than he had been before. 

"Dude, calm down! It's not a big deal. Don't be embarrassed, I've seen worse attempts today. One by a rowing team member, actually, which doesn't bode well for us this season now that I think about it. But it's really not all that bad. And besides, aren't YOU a staff sponsor for the club? I'm just a lowly volunteer, that'd reflect WAY worse on you man. Plus then you'd have to write a description of the event - probably with way too much detail, knowing you - and you'd have to read it to a disciplinary council, and... OH SHIT that's funny. Please do it."

Newton at this point had dissolved once again into laughter, although this time he managed to stay upright, which gave Hermann a view of how his nose scrunched up and he leaned back into the laugh and Hermann definitely didn't care about any of that, but if he HAD it might've made his heart flutter a bit. 

"Yes, Dr Geiszler, about that. Why exactly ARE you here volunteering for the astrophysics organisation? You're a biologist, are you not?" 

"No need to sneer at the concept of biology Herms, it's vital to our existence and - more importantly - our sex lives-"

OUR sex lives. What on earth was he on about. 

"- but besides man, a guy can have side passions. Like just cause I'm mostly for dudes doesn't mean I don't enjoy ladies sometimes too. Emphasis on the mostly for men bit though. Also, I just so happen to have a PhD in theoretical astrophysics with an emphasis on quantum mechanics, so don't just assume. Cause you know what happens when you assume..."

"You WHAT?"

"You haven't heard that one? When you assume you make an ass out of you and me. Get it? Cause it's spelled-" 

"I don't give a damn, I'm asking about your PhD. Why on earth are you a professor of biology when you'd clearly make an excellent addition to my department"

"Well well well, Hermann. I didn't expect a proposal so early in the game, but if you insist-"

Hermann sneered through his seemingly-permanent blush and powered on. 

"Don't be ridiculous, my line of questioning was perfectly reasonable. What are you doing in the biology department?"

"It's ok man, I was just yanking your chain-"

PROVERBIAL GUTTER, GOTTLIEB

"- I prefer my PhD in biology over the others, so that's the one I choose to focus my time on. Pretty simple"

The others. He said the others. Implying that he had more than the two. Hermann felt a very disturbing mix of threatened and impressed and a bit turned on, in all honesty. 

"But dude," Newton continued on without pause, "that's not the point here. I've now gotta dedicate as much time as is necessary to getting you to make it to the bell. It's gonna bug me if I don't, and you'll probably stew over it for months"

"Months? I will not stew over it for months. I see absolutely no need to give any thought at all to my physical abilities in my line of work, and the very idea that this carnival game has any bearing over my manhood is preposterous"

"Yes yes, preposterous my good sir. Simply unreasonable, I do say" Newton interjected with an overblown accent. 

"Oh dear lord Newton, do not try to mimic my voice, you'll only embarrass yourself" 

A few curious students slowed down to eavesdrop on the obviously ridiculous argument taking place, only to receive matched his-and-his withering glares from both professors simultaneously. 

"My accent was impeccable and you know it, but that's neither here nor there, because I won't be able to take anything you say seriously until you can beat this game and I can get the look on your face when you tried last time out of my head. It was like a kicked puppy. Or maybe a turtle. But in like... A cute way" 

Hermann decided to be the more mature one and simply grab the mallet to take another swing. Before he could, though, Newton had snatched it out of his grasp in a blur of colour (thanks to those ridiculous tattoos). 

"Newton what on earth..."

"Nah man, I gave you your first token on the house, but the next one is gonna cost you" 

"That's utterly ridiculous, I'm a professor, and there's hardly a line"

"Regardless, the whole point of this is to raise money. If you don't pay you don't play. And since you're a faculty advisor for the club that's like stealing from yourself, which is just stupid. So pay up" 

"This whole endeavour is simply not worth my time, but it's not as if this thing costs anything to run. It's all manual mechanics. Which means there's nothing to compensate if I play again. It remains costless to run whether or not there is a force acting on it -"

"- yes I know Hermann, and entropy is inevitable, and the universe is flying away from us at incredible speeds, and everything is meaningless and we'll all die someday. Now give me my damn money and I'll give you a token" 

Hermann glared and bought five. 

The first attempt was a no-go right from the start, and the marker barely left the ground. Newton, surprisingly, didn't mock him for this, he just reset the machine and let him try again. 

The second was better, and got halfway there. Newt gave him some tips on grip that he picked up from his baseball years, and they put their brains together, working in harmony for only a brief moment to try to figure out the sweet spot on both the mallet and the spring. 

The third go was impressive, and the fourth was - at last - a success. 

"By Jove my good man, you've cracked it!" Newton cried in his ridiculous attempt at an accent the second the bell went off. He ran excitedly to the back of the booth and unhooked the dreadful looking plush cow he had threatened Hermann with earlier. 

"Really Herms, I'm so proud, and I'm incredibly excited to take this guy home, I've had my eye on him for-"

Hermann's euphoria - which he was hiding terribly - over his success was cut abruptly short. "Excuse me?! YOU, take it home? I've earned it, what logic could you possibly employ to suggest that it's yours..."

Newton winked and moved closer, the cow hugged to his chest with its eyes glinting at Hermann awfully knowingly 

"C’mon Herms. The point of these things is that you show off your manliness so you can win a prize for your date. You're the manly one, which means I'm the date, and I get to take him home. What should I name him? I'm thinking.... BB Burn... Thoughts?"

Hermann, for his part, was unable to do more than splutter, and he felt his blush run all the way to his nose and light up his face like a goddamned lovesick Christmas tree. 

What on EARTH could Newton mean by that? Was it just a ploy to get a stuffed animal? The man was childish, but certainly he realized he could easily go out and buy one on his own. The idea that this was a date.... And he had called Hermann manly. The blush deepened. 

Oh dear lord. 

Newton, meanwhile, just sat patiently and waited for Hermann to think the whole thing through, still holding the ridiculous cow. 

Hermann finally resolved that he ought to say something, although he had no idea what. 

"N-.... I, um....."

Newton took pity on him and cut him short with a quick flick of his wrist to look at his watch. 

"Aaaaaaaaand that's my shift. I'm done here. So, what do you say you, BB Burns, and I all head over to the Whip-It? It's that ride that spins you around really fast and makes your stomach feel weird and tingly, or -"

Hermann, at a loss for words, but filled with a resolve he didn't quite know the source for and more than slightly having a well-timed out-of-body experience, darted forward and pulled him into a kiss, melting into his lips and carding his fingers into his hair.

His very very soft hair. Oh god, the warmth of their proximity ought to be a problem in the summer heat and yet it seemed to be the opposite, heating up a part of Hermann’s core that he previously had no idea even existed. 

This was a terrible move. A giant mistake. A ball of panic began to coil in his chest, and then…

Newton reacted - finally - seeming slightly surprised, and dropped the horrendous cow, instead occupying his hands by fisting them into the material of that damned sweater vest, his fingers slipping into the holes in the crotchet and anchoring him there. Hermann thought – rather illogically – that they couldn’t possibly be separated now no matter what force were to act on them. 

When they at last did pull apart, however, Newton for once had nothing to say. They stared at each other, out of breath and nervous in the best possible way, still holding each other ridiculously close and ignoring the small group of curious students who seemed to think they were being at all subtle with their spying from across the boardwalk. 

Newton, finally, seemed to get ahold of his own head, and was able at last to chime in. 

“Or, y’know, we could just head straight back to my place” 

“Yes Newton, if that was anything to go on I rather think I won’t need a ridiculously named ride to make my stomach go wonky”

The other man elbowed him with a grin before reaching for his hand.

“I told you, call me Newt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BADA BING BADA BOOM ITS OVER. 
> 
> Kidding that's a lie, because there's FANART for this AU and an EPILOGUE. How exciting. 
> 
> The fanwork was made by the beautiful brilliant lovable and incomparable tumblr user whatthephosphate, whom I hate. It can be found on my tumblr, of the same url as my username here, and is SO GOOD AND ADORABLE. It takes place the morning after Chapter 1. The Epilogue was written, unfortunately, by me again, and can be found by clicking the "Next Chapter" button. Pretty simple stuff.


	2. EPILOGUE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It gets.... so much fluffier from here. Good luck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> German translations are as follows: 
> 
> Liebling: Darling  
> Dummes liebenswerten scheisse: Silly lovable shit  
> Mein kleiner Schatz: My little treasure  
> Verpiss dich: Fuck you
> 
> German is a family language for me but my ability to speak it is only so-so. If I've made a mistake let me know!

5 years later

Hermann in no way shape or form considered himself to be the peak arbiter of romance in this world. Hell, he didn’t even consider himself the peak arbiter of romance in his relationship. Unexpected prepaid deliveries of his favourite takeout foods, sweet encouraging sticky notes left on his laptop screen, and those ridiculously adorable recordings of obviously original love songs spamming his email on one particularly stressful day during finals week? Those were all solidly within Newton’s purview. The man was constantly expressive of his profound and - in Hermann’s humble opinion – possibly misguided love for him, and despite the many protests to the contrary Hermann often felt there was an imbalance in their relationship. He saw his inability to properly articulate the depth of his attachment to the man he loved so dearly as an unbreachable rift that would pose a threat were Newton at any point to slow down his own declarations for long enough to realize how clumsily they were reciprocated. 

Today, however, Hermann was sure he’d done it. He’d been struck by a moment of brilliance a month ago – a feeling with which he was perfectly willing to admit he was familiar, although in this case there was a newer and more exciting edge added by the excitement of giving a gift he knew beyond doubt would make his partner happy. He could get used to the feeling, knowing he was about to make the day of someone whose emotions were so important and integral to his own. Was this how Newton felt all the time? Lucky bastard. Hermann chewed on that thought with a small amount of actual jealousy as he weaved inexpertly through the crowds of the carnival that had become the astrophysics club’s annual tradition. He attempted to catch a glimpse of the man who five years ago had wormed his way into his brain and latched on, refusing to leave and occupying a truly ridiculous amount of his thoughts. This proved difficult, however, considering Newton was hardly tall enough to see over a crowd of middle schoolers – a comparison that would’ve been ridiculously specific if it hadn’t been proven not even a week ago during a date to the aerospace museum that had happened to coincide with a wave of children on their 8th grade field trip. 

 

As it turned out, however, he didn’t need to look, because within a minute it became perfectly obvious exactly where Newton was and exactly whom he was yelling at. Much to Hermann’s constant embarrassment, the man’s voice could travel. And it was currently traveling from the direction of the bumper cars, where Newt was engaged in a one-sided screaming match with one of the most esteemed members of the alumni association (a man Hermann vaguely recognized from previous encounters as being extremely boring and looking an unfortunate amount like Mitt Romney). 

The ridiculously high-pitched ranting became louder and more understandable as Hermann approached, somewhat reluctantly. 

“-and of course you can’t POSSIBLY believe that the Sports Ed department deserves more funding that we do! The combined professors specializing in the STEM fields at this university have thousands of widely acclaimed papers between them, as well as a ton of federal support for their projects and even a few Nobel prizes, if you’ve forgotten! That’s worth way more than your stupid sports lugs telling each other how to throw around a football. C’mon man, my boyfriend, for example, is-“ 

At this point, the Romney-look-alike finally decided to interrupt: 

“Your boyfriend, Doctor Geiszler, is standing right behind you and looking uncomfortable. I’d say your best move would be to drop this and run along with him” 

Newt whipped around, surprised, with a look of pleasure at seeing Hermann that was clearly undeterred by the disapproving glare he was being given in return. 

“Oh hello Herms! I was wondering where you were. Give me one second and I’ll be right with you,” and with that he turned back to continue his argument, only to see that the object of his ire had taken his distraction as a chance to escape, and was already across the footpath and punching something into his phone with a look of frustration. Newton bit his lip and put his hands on his hips, clearly annoyed, though Hermann himself could only feel relieved that his partner had not had the chance to display more of his typical tendency to rebel against authority. 

His partner…. He still hadn’t gotten over the thrill of getting to use that phrase… 

“Come along, liebling,” he said with what he hoped was enough of a put-upon tone of voice to get his message across, “before I strangle you for speaking that way to a man who is in charge of so much grant money” 

Newton looked reluctant to move on, but he dropped his hands from his own hips and looped one arm around Hermann’s as he neared him. 

“I’m not going to take you too seriously about that threat if you’re still calling me liebling”

“What else shall I call you then? Dummes liebenswerten scheisse? Mein kleiner Schatz?” 

With this Newton retracted his arm and gave him a light smack on the shoulder. 

“Verpiss dich, man, I honestly don’t know why I love you” 

“Ah, but you do Newton, and that’s the point”

They shared a smile – or more accurately, a smirk – and both reached simultaneously for the other’s hand as they began to walk toward the centre of the bustling crowd. 

“So besides your obvious love of hot, crowded, unsanitary places, why’d you have me meet you here?” Newton asked. 

Rather than answering, Hermann walked purposefully toward a cotton candy vendor and handed him a fiver. 

“One, please. With as much as you can pile on the stick”

He then directed his gaze back toward Newt, examining the man with that unidentified but well-worn throb in his heart that he hadn’t the power to drive away. Newton, for his part, was gazing at the strings of sugar that floated away from the candy mixing machine with combination of scientific interest and genuine unabashed excitement playing across his face. 

The pang in Hermann’s chest grew ever so slightly. 

After he accepted the ridiculously sugary confection from the man and they began their retreat into a less crowded area of the darkening fairground, he finally answered Newt’s question. 

“I brought you here, Newton, because – as you’d remember if you left room in that brain of yours for anything other than sweets and biological trivia - this is the very place we first met” 

Newt, rather than protesting the teasing affront to his mental capacity, instead grabbed a handful of cotton candy and stuck the whole thing in his mouth, waiting for Hermann to say whatever it was he was clearly holding in. He unwittingly made things worse, however, as his eagerness for candy left a sugary coating on his upper lip, and Hermann felt his knees go a bit weak. 

“I… that is to say, we… Newton. I have loved you for what feels like my entire life, although logically….” Hermann took his own small tuft of the cotton candy and stuck it in his mouth, trying to buy himself a bit of time to think. Hadn’t he had an entire speech laid out before he came here? He’d given this a great deal of forethought, and despite this it had all abandoned him in his time of need. Utter bollocks. 

He cleared his throat and tried again. 

“Newton, you are no doubt familiar with quantum mechanics…”

Newt smiled encouragingly. “Of course, dude. They’re a personal favourite for us both if I remember correctly” 

Hermann knew that. Of course he did. They’d discussed it many times before. “Quite right. Well I… I see, you know, us…. As being rather like the theory of entanglement. Because it posits – at least according to Bohr, you know – that two particles can become entangled if they come too close together, and their properties become linked, and after that, no matter how far away they are from each other, their properties are dictated by the other. And of course some think that their properties are only solidified if you observe them, but before you do they’re fluid. You know all this, of course, it’s just… There’s no logic to it, but I feel as if from the second we met and began yelling at each other in that blasted elevator, we changed each other. And I am a reflection of you at any given point, and vice versa. But I didn’t really notice, I didn’t observe it, until we were at this carnival. Five years ago. With that stupid game, having only the second conversation we’d ever had. And I thank god it went well, because I can’t imagine what my life would be like if it hadn’t, since I was already inexorably linked to you without even knowing it. It’s all ridiculous really, but I…” 

At this point he was stopped by the feeling of sugar-coated lips pressing into his clumsily, neither of them really kissing well as one was shocked and the other couldn’t stop smiling. After a moment, however, he did his best to return the effort, tasting the cotton candy on both their mouths and feeling it stick them ever so slightly together – something that would’ve disgusted him had it been with anyone else in any other situation, but at this point only felt silly and wonderful and a little bit right. 

Newton’s mouth left his - allowing Hermann to straighten his neck from how he had stooped it to accommodate the smaller man - and moved on to press light kisses on his chin and neck. His fingers smoothed out Hermann’s own where he had knotted them together in his worry, and instead moved them so they were held in each of his own - held slightly away from their bodies as the proximity there just didn’t allow the room - and putting them in a position that would’ve seemed like they were slow dancing were their music or movement at all in the small bubble they both felt they were in, where the world didn’t touch them. 

The cotton candy lay on the ground, forgotten. 

A small voice in the back of Hermann’s mind complained that Newton’s mouth was still unbearably sticky, and he would require a shower the second they got home, but showers with company – which was certainly an option - were much more bearable in his experience, and either way he couldn’t be arsed to care. 

It all felt too good. 

Newton leaned even further into him, sucking lightly at his neck where he had found a pulse, and Hermann’s leg, unsupported as it was by his cane – which he had opted to leave at home considering today had been a good one for him physically and he preferred not to be weighed down by it on such an occasion – finally let him down. It was only a matter of time really, after the amount of walking he’d done, and what was currently…going on. 

Newt recognized this, and led him back to a secluded bench near the edge of a fortune teller’s tent, picking up the cotton candy from the dirt and throwing it reluctantly in the trash as they passed it. 

They both sat, for a moment, holding hands, heads leaned against each other, as they considered the stars now shining obviously above them, only barely dimmed by the distant floodlights that leaked into view from the more densely populated areas of the carnival. 

Hermann noted that it looked to have been a success once again this year, and he tried to not to take it as a sign of good luck. 

After a moment, he remembered the gift – which now felt a bit small and silly – that he had stashed in his pocket, but he reached in and pulled it out anyway, holding it in his fist so that Newton couldn’t make any guesses as to what it was. 

This earned him a quizzical stare, followed by a pout. 

“Oh hush up, you ridiculous man. This is simply a small gift that I thought I may as well give you, even though our anniversary is technically next week. It just seemed right. I’ll get you something bigger on the day, of course, I just… It’s, quite literally, a token of my affections” 

And with that clumsy explanation he shoved the gift into his partner’s hands, rushing to be rid of it as he was now convinced it was utterly ridiculous. 

Newton stared at the small object incredulously, his face surprised but otherwise unreadable. 

“Is this?” 

“Yes, from the day we first met. Or met and spoke, rather than screaming, that is.” 

In Newton’s hand, worn from years of being transferred from pocket to pocket of Hermann’s pants, was the last token he had bought from Newton five years ago, and never used, considering his success on his embarrassingly late but not final try at the game Newt had been operating. 

“You kept it? This is the same one?” 

“Yes. I’ve brought it with me everywhere I go. It’s always been a comfort, feeling like I’ve had you near, but after five years together I feel I can be confident that the same rule will apply with the real thing. That is… that I’ve got you with me everywhere I go, even if not physically.” 

“Like entanglement”

“Exactly” 

After that, sweet but sticky kisses said everything that words couldn’t, and they were both – for a moment that felt like it was forever – happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to Amber. The inspiration for this thing came when I was stuck underground immediately after visiting the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland carnival for what felt like eternity because some idiot on the tube decided stabbing a man would add to the holiday cheer. The physical text was written while I imitated The Gang Beats Boggs while sitting next to two cowboys on a plane home to visit family for the holidays. Given that the fic had such strange origins, it was very nice of her to even bother reading it, much less scream at me for it (every author's dream).
> 
> More importantly, however, its very nice of you - reader - to click on it. I appreciate the minimal amount of effort you put into that, because at the end of the day you still could've chosen not to. Hope you all have a wonderful day, and a happy Chanukah, to those of you celebrating!


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